This story has a funny and happy ending, and the lesson learned was great.
In 2011 I was attending the monthly training upgrade in Naples with my company. Everybody arrived the Friday late afternoon to have the opportunity to have dinner together in a popular restaurant. Popularity was due to their specialisation in all the typical Naples meals, from seafood pasta to fantastic pizza.
I was sitting at a table with โmyโ team, and we had a lovely dinner and much fun.
Usually, the bill was up to the company, so we left the table, heading to the hotel at the end of the dinner.
However, I was stopped by a waiter before leaving the restaurant. He asked me to pay the bill for everyone who had eaten at the table.
My first reaction was, โS๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ: ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ดโ.
His answer was,โ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ญโ.
I was annoyed, I paid, and when I reached the hotel, I looked for board members asking for an explanation! But everybody was already in their rooms.
Saturday morning, I had breakfast, and I was one of the few who got up early, looking to speak and clarify with the person of interest.
When I sat at my table, I noticed something under that plate: there was an envelope. When I opened it, I found:
- The equivalent of the bill in cash (refund)
- A brief note, handwritten by my boss:
โ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆโ, with a smile designed after his signatureโฆ..
How do you take care of your team members?